Would be great to know - especially how you get on with noise/temps.
Gigabyte P34W V3 vs Gigabyte P34G V2
- Thread starter LeviSJ
- Start date
Would be great to know - especially how you get on with noise/temps.
Soldato
Would love to know what you think too! Any chance of a mini review? 
Would love to know what you think too! Any chance of a mini review?
Sure thing
It'll probably take me a few days because I have exams next week but I'll post it as soon as I canSure thing
Woah, good luck and don't feel any obligations to post info here then.
Well I've finally bought one (p34w v3 CF1).
Should have it on wednesday, although I won't get proper time to test until the bank holiday weekend. Priorities are going to be checking for defects, testing performance and managing temperatures/fan noise through software - making sure everything is fine and dandy before even thinking of repasting, adding ram or swapping in a larger ssd.
Will post how I get on.
Should have it on wednesday, although I won't get proper time to test until the bank holiday weekend. Priorities are going to be checking for defects, testing performance and managing temperatures/fan noise through software - making sure everything is fine and dandy before even thinking of repasting, adding ram or swapping in a larger ssd.
Will post how I get on.
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Associate
Good choice. I've had my P34 for 16 months now and it is still going strong. Upgraded the second hdd for a SSD as that was the only thing that let it down. Even the 760m that mine has still plays new games ok so your laptop really won't have any problems in that respect.
So it arrived yesterday and I had a few hours to play about with it. I only tested Killing Floor 2 for two hours as that's the only game I have installed right now.
Pros:
Case feels and looks great (once you take off all the branding stickers, there's a lot)
The 'bloatware' is actually useful programs that I haven't felt like removing yet, which is usually the first thing I do
Screen looks crisp and sharp although I had to adjust the size of text etc as everything looked so tiny (I use to use a 15.6" with a 720p resolution)
Game performance is great as expected, didn't drop below 60 fps on KF2 on high settings, have no tried ultra yet but will do sometime soon
SSD is nice and fast, restarts in roughly 6 seconds
Cons:
Noise. The fans get extremely loud while gaming, I was skyping my friends while playing and they could hear it at all times
Sound - The speakers are pretty crap, I've never been one to be fussy with sound quality but these are noticeably lacking in any oomph.
Temperatures - CPU reached 97 degrees celcius during gaming, have not yet repasted or undervolted. The actual keyboard gets warm but I didn't notice unless I purposefully placed my palm flat on it. The heat is pushed towards the back so near the power button gets very warm but you won't be putting your hands there anyway so it doesn't matter
The charger is massive and pretty heavy, taking away from the portability of the laptop if you need to carry the charger with you (battery lasts about four hours with 50% brightness and light browsing).
Since the sound quality is so bad I've been playing with headphones in and I can't hear the fans at all then. Obviously this will depend on the quality of headphones you use but the noise can definitely be shut out (just don't play games in any quiet area, you'll annoy people).
My last laptop had a very very bad trackpad so in comparison this feels amazing, but I have no idea how good it is compared to the average trackpad. Works fine for browsing, i recommend a mouse for gaming.
Feel free to ask any questions!
Pros:
Case feels and looks great (once you take off all the branding stickers, there's a lot)
The 'bloatware' is actually useful programs that I haven't felt like removing yet, which is usually the first thing I do
Screen looks crisp and sharp although I had to adjust the size of text etc as everything looked so tiny (I use to use a 15.6" with a 720p resolution)
Game performance is great as expected, didn't drop below 60 fps on KF2 on high settings, have no tried ultra yet but will do sometime soon
SSD is nice and fast, restarts in roughly 6 seconds
Cons:
Noise. The fans get extremely loud while gaming, I was skyping my friends while playing and they could hear it at all times
Sound - The speakers are pretty crap, I've never been one to be fussy with sound quality but these are noticeably lacking in any oomph.
Temperatures - CPU reached 97 degrees celcius during gaming, have not yet repasted or undervolted. The actual keyboard gets warm but I didn't notice unless I purposefully placed my palm flat on it. The heat is pushed towards the back so near the power button gets very warm but you won't be putting your hands there anyway so it doesn't matter
The charger is massive and pretty heavy, taking away from the portability of the laptop if you need to carry the charger with you (battery lasts about four hours with 50% brightness and light browsing).
Since the sound quality is so bad I've been playing with headphones in and I can't hear the fans at all then. Obviously this will depend on the quality of headphones you use but the noise can definitely be shut out (just don't play games in any quiet area, you'll annoy people).
My last laptop had a very very bad trackpad so in comparison this feels amazing, but I have no idea how good it is compared to the average trackpad. Works fine for browsing, i recommend a mouse for gaming.
Feel free to ask any questions!
What about fan noise while browsing/watching videos/etc.? Are the fans just bad at high speed or are they bad in general?
Browsing is fine, they do kick in if you leave it on auto but not very often (i'd say once an hour or so browsing).
There is four fan configurations, stealth, auto low, auto high and maximum. Auto low is what I usually have it on except for gaming and it doesn't bother me at all, if you really want it dead silent stealth does that meaning you could use it anywhere. I would feel comfortable using this in my lectures or the library on auto low though
Thanks, that's what I was looking for, shared offices can be a bit of a pain...
Hi Art,
FYI - later today we will see the OcUK "This Week Only" deals refresh
Watch this space,,,
Regards,
Gigabyte UK NB Team
Annoying that the TWO deal pops up now, having purchased on Monday. 
Just received mine (p34w) - checking fit and finish. All seems good, apart from the trackpad buttons - left click is depressed lower than the trackpad, so it is not level. LeviSJ are your trackpad buttons flat? I would hate to send it back for something so small, but I have a bad feeling it could become a major annoyance in daily use.
EDIT: Also all four feet don't sit flat on a flat surface - two of the feet are up in the air (opposite corners) so it rocks back and forth. This is quite pronounced, so I think unfortunately I'm going to have to try another. I don't want to try bending anything into shape and risk breaking something.
Aside from this I love the form factor and design - just a shame with these defects on this one.
Atom/Gibbo et al - would appreciate some advice.
Just received mine (p34w) - checking fit and finish. All seems good, apart from the trackpad buttons - left click is depressed lower than the trackpad, so it is not level. LeviSJ are your trackpad buttons flat? I would hate to send it back for something so small, but I have a bad feeling it could become a major annoyance in daily use.
EDIT: Also all four feet don't sit flat on a flat surface - two of the feet are up in the air (opposite corners) so it rocks back and forth. This is quite pronounced, so I think unfortunately I'm going to have to try another. I don't want to try bending anything into shape and risk breaking something.
Aside from this I love the form factor and design - just a shame with these defects on this one.
Atom/Gibbo et al - would appreciate some advice.
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Annoying that the TWO deal pops up now, having purchased on Monday.
Just received mine (p34w) - checking fit and finish. All seems good, apart from the trackpad buttons - left click is depressed lower than the trackpad, so it is not level. LeviSJ are your trackpad buttons flat? I would hate to send it back for something so small, but I have a bad feeling it could become a major annoyance in daily use.
EDIT: Also all four feet don't sit flat on a flat surface - two of the feet are up in the air (opposite corners) so it rocks back and forth. This is quite pronounced, so I think unfortunately I'm going to have to try another. I don't want to try bending anything into shape and risk breaking something.
Aside from this I love the form factor and design - just a shame with these defects on this one.
Atom/Gibbo et al - would appreciate some advice.
Hi Curunen,
If you feel that the chassis is not "true" then please RMA this to OcUK for exchange. I have just skyped "Bailey" and he should contact you throught the Customer Service channel tomorrow.
Needs to be perfect and we want you to be a happy customer !
Sorry for the inconvenience,
Regards,
Gigabyte UK NB Team
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Thanks, but thinking about it I really don't need the power (or price) of the 970M, which is why I was asking about the 965m version. I'll keep looking...
Thanks, I think I will have to do that.
I'll submit an RMA form and follow the procedure.
Does anyone know a good/reliable relatively cheap courier service to post back with? Haven't had to use one in ages and not sure what to go with, also bearing in mind insurance of up to £1300.
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I posted about this over on NBR and had a reply to that thread stating (assuming the poster also works for gigabyte):
I'm going to go ahead and try bending it (gently) - I was afraid to do this in the first place in case of damaging the machine.
The trackpad button issue is still there though and that is annoying given how frequently it the fingers move over that area when using it - not sure what the chance of getting flush buttons are - I'd appreciate any owners commenting on what they've received because I've got no perspective on the matter.
Atom/anyone could you comment on this?
I'm going to go ahead and try bending it (gently) - I was afraid to do this in the first place in case of damaging the machine.
The trackpad button issue is still there though and that is annoying given how frequently it the fingers move over that area when using it - not sure what the chance of getting flush buttons are - I'd appreciate any owners commenting on what they've received because I've got no perspective on the matter.
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Mine sits perfectly flat with no rocking. My left mouse button is ever so slightly more pushed in than the right hand side but it doesn't bother me so haven't complained
Hey there Curunen
Please post in the customer service forum and I can get it replaced for you with a new one.
It is in the forums on the link below:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=119
Thanks
Bailey
Please post in the customer service forum and I can get it replaced for you with a new one.
It is in the forums on the link below:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=119
Thanks
Bailey
Ok got my replacement p34w today - many thanks to Atom for the hoodie and Bailey for excellent service.
I'm just setting things up so can only give some initial impressions.
Positives:
- No rocking chassis.
- Excellent screen (no dead/stuck pixels), great colours and viewing angles, and uniform brightness (mind you I haven't tested in any games so far, just looking at still images).
- very quiet when idle - I'm actually surprised, the fan doesn't ramp up much at all during basic browsing etc.
- Perfect size/weight/form factor. I think 14" is ideal for performance/portability ratio.
Negatives:
- Keyboard and left/right click... I'm a little disappointed with the built in input devices for a machine of this price. While the left/right click button is mostly level (very minor depression on left click below the trackpad, but much better than the first one I got), the right click is not 100% responsive - sometimes it doesn't register so I have to squeeze it down or press it in exactly the right place. A little bit of a pain, because the trackpad itself is actually very nice to use.
As for the keyboard - when I opened it up both the S and D keys were stuck down - I feared they were broken and decided to take a thin screwdriver to lever them up. Fortunately this has worked and now both keys press "ok" (useable) - I have no idea what caused them to be stuck down in the first place. There is a slight undulation going across the keyboard with a small depression around the WESD keys and a slight rise around the FGH keys. Finally I found something stuck under the number 6 key (looks like a small bit of white plastic) which I haven't yet been able to get out - initially the key would not press and I thought it was also broken. :/
Anyway, I'm typing all this from this keyboard now, so it is useable. Seeing as how everything else seems to be working fine, I would rather get on and use it for now despite the S and D keys still being a little "flat" they don't seem to bounce back up fully like the other keys.
My question regarding this is can these things be fixed in the future? Ie, if necessary replace the keyboard (or level it out with some padding) and the left/right click button?
For the record, this is no slight on the service I have received from both Bailey and Atom and ocuk in general. I am more than satisfied with that and will be leaving reviews - providing there is the option of replacing/repairing the keyboard and trackpad buttons in the future I will be happy to keep using it for now.
EDIT: Note/request to Atom/Gigabyte for any future iterations of these machines in the coming years:
1. Please consider using the one-piece trackpad/click buttons as is currently on the P35 instead of these separate buttons. Would solve the problem of there being any chance of dodgy buttons.
2. Please improve the quality of the keyboard - even if it means increasing the price tag a little. Unfortunately I feel the quality of both the keyboard and the trackpad buttons is not fitting for a £1300 machine (the trackpad itself is great though).
I'm just setting things up so can only give some initial impressions.
Positives:
- No rocking chassis.
- Excellent screen (no dead/stuck pixels), great colours and viewing angles, and uniform brightness (mind you I haven't tested in any games so far, just looking at still images).
- very quiet when idle - I'm actually surprised, the fan doesn't ramp up much at all during basic browsing etc.
- Perfect size/weight/form factor. I think 14" is ideal for performance/portability ratio.
Negatives:
- Keyboard and left/right click... I'm a little disappointed with the built in input devices for a machine of this price. While the left/right click button is mostly level (very minor depression on left click below the trackpad, but much better than the first one I got), the right click is not 100% responsive - sometimes it doesn't register so I have to squeeze it down or press it in exactly the right place. A little bit of a pain, because the trackpad itself is actually very nice to use.
As for the keyboard - when I opened it up both the S and D keys were stuck down - I feared they were broken and decided to take a thin screwdriver to lever them up. Fortunately this has worked and now both keys press "ok" (useable) - I have no idea what caused them to be stuck down in the first place. There is a slight undulation going across the keyboard with a small depression around the WESD keys and a slight rise around the FGH keys. Finally I found something stuck under the number 6 key (looks like a small bit of white plastic) which I haven't yet been able to get out - initially the key would not press and I thought it was also broken. :/
Anyway, I'm typing all this from this keyboard now, so it is useable. Seeing as how everything else seems to be working fine, I would rather get on and use it for now despite the S and D keys still being a little "flat" they don't seem to bounce back up fully like the other keys.
My question regarding this is can these things be fixed in the future? Ie, if necessary replace the keyboard (or level it out with some padding) and the left/right click button?
For the record, this is no slight on the service I have received from both Bailey and Atom and ocuk in general. I am more than satisfied with that and will be leaving reviews - providing there is the option of replacing/repairing the keyboard and trackpad buttons in the future I will be happy to keep using it for now.
EDIT: Note/request to Atom/Gigabyte for any future iterations of these machines in the coming years:
1. Please consider using the one-piece trackpad/click buttons as is currently on the P35 instead of these separate buttons. Would solve the problem of there being any chance of dodgy buttons.
2. Please improve the quality of the keyboard - even if it means increasing the price tag a little. Unfortunately I feel the quality of both the keyboard and the trackpad buttons is not fitting for a £1300 machine (the trackpad itself is great though).
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